HC treats contempt plea against Health Secretary as closed

Chennai, Sep 10 (UNI) The Madras High Court treated as closed, a contempt application against the Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, V K Subburaj, for the delay caused in issuing the Essentiality Certificate to a trust for setting up a medical college.

This followed the filing of an affidavit by the official, in which he tendered an unconditional apology.

In his order, Justice P R Shivakumar said it was true that the order by the official had been passed long after the expiry of four-week period from the date of issue of order by the High Court.

For the delay caused in disposing of the representation from the trust in accordance with the directions of the court, the Health Secretary filed an affidavit narrating the circumstances under which the delay occurred and tendering an unconditional apology.

Accepting the same, the judge recorded compliance and treated the petition as closed.

In its petition, Deen Dayal Medical and Educational Trust, represented by its Chairman and Managing Trustee T D Naidu said the authorities were prolonging the issue of the certificate for the past three years.

Though he was approaching the court repeatedly for remedy, the authorities were disobeying the court order.

He prayed the court to punish the authorities for wilful disobedience of the court order.

The Health Secretary stated that the Essentiality Certificate had been issued to the petitioner trust.

UNI XR GT UCS1102